Systems and methods for utilizing uni-directional inter-host communication in an air gap environment

ABSTRACT

A request message is generated with a trusted network entity executing trusted code on a first network layer. The request message to target a non-trusted network entity executing non-trusted code on a second network layer. The request message is transmitted from the trusted network entity to the non-trusted network entity through at least a policy enforcement entity. The policy enforcement entity applies one or more network traffic rules to enforce a unidirectional flow of traffic from the first network layer to the second network layer. A response check message is generated with the trusted network entity. The response check message to determine whether response information is available on the non-trusted network entity in response to the request message. The response check message is transmitted from the trusted network entity to the non-trusted network entity through at least the policy enforcement entity. The response check message to determine whether the response information is stored in a conceptual mailbox on the non-trusted network entity.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This United States divisional patent application is related to, andclaims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/225,164 filedMar. 25, 2014, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UTILIZINGUNI-DIRECTIONAL INTER-HOST COMMUNICATION IN AN AIR GAP ENVIRONMENT,” nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,306,906 and is further related to, and claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/804,904 filed Mar. 25,2013, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING UNIDIRECTIONAL INTER-HOSTCONNECTION IN AN AIR GAP ENVIRONMENT,” the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments relate to techniques for communication between securitylayers in an air gap environment that allow communication between a hostin a trusted security layer and an untrusted host on a differentsecurity layer. More particularly, embodiments relate to providing atrusted layered management network having a host that communicates withanother host with a unidirectional transfer.

BACKGROUND

Within complex computing networks there is a need to provide sufficientsecurity so that sensitive data is maintained in a secure manner. Ascomputing systems and networks become more complex and more layered,this becomes an increasingly difficult task. In some environments,trusted components must communicate with untrusted components. With thiscommunication there is risk that the untrusted component is malicious.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and notby way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network environment in which thetechniques described herein can be utilized for unidirectionalinter-host communications in a computing environment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a technique to provideunidirectional inter-host communications from a management layercomponent to a non-management layer component in a computingenvironment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a technique to provideunidirectional inter-host communications from a non-management layercomponent to a management layer component in a computing environment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one environment wherein an on-demanddatabase service might be used.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one embodiment of elements of environmentof FIG. 4 and various possible interconnections between these elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, embodiments of the invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structuresand techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure theunderstanding of this description.

The technology disclosed relates to designing rules for security layersfor use in a computer-implemented system. The described subject mattercan be implemented in the context of any computer-implemented system,such as a software-based system, a database system, a multi-tenantenvironment, or the like. Moreover, the described subject matter can beimplemented in connection with two or more separate and distinctcomputer-implemented systems that cooperate and communicate with oneanother.

One or more implementations may be implemented in numerous ways,including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, acomputer readable medium such as a computer readable storage mediumcontaining computer readable instructions or computer program code, oras a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium havinga computer readable program code embodied therein.

The technology disclosed relates to providing a method that can create aunidirectional inter-host connection in an air gap environment. In someimplementations, the technology disclosed can create a managementnetwork that includes a host. The host in the management network canmanage resources on other network layers (e.g., compute layer). At ahigh level, a server on the management layer can, for example, receive arequest from an operator for a resource (e.g., a virtual machine) to becreated on a compute layer server that can be accessed by a customernetwork. The management layer server sends a request to a compute layerserver to create the requested resource. The host in the customernetwork can manage traffic in the customer network and receive datapackets from the host in the management layer.

In some implementations, the technology disclosed can design rules forsecurity layers like firewalls and proxies to enable unidirectionaltraffic from the management layer to the compute layer. The managementlayer can manage and establish connections with the hosts in the computelayer. In one embodiment, communication between servers on the computelayer can also be through the mailbox. In one embodiment, a managementserver reads messages in a mailbox, interprets the messages and sends amessage to the target compute layer server.

Other implementations may include a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium storing instructions executable by a processor to performa method as described above. Yet another implementation may include asystem including memory and one or more processors operable to executeinstructions, stored in the memory, to perform a method as describedabove.

In one embodiment, untrusted code can run on a first (e.g., computing,compute) layer while trusted code can run on a second (e.g., management,control) layer within a computing environment. In one embodiment, thecomputing environment is an on demand services computing environment. Inone embodiment, the computing environment is a multi-tenant databaseenvironment.

In one embodiment, a conceptual “mailbox” is utilized to communicatebetween layers. In one embodiment, entities in the management layer cansend messages to entities in other layers via this conceptual mailbox.If there is a response to a message, the compute layer entity can placea response in the mailbox and the management entity can check themailbox for a response. Thus, all communication is under the control ofthe trusted entity on the management layer. In one embodiment, networkfirewall rules/policies are utilized to prevent traffic from the computelayer to the management layer.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network environment in which thetechniques described herein can be utilized for unidirectionalinter-host communications in a computing environment. Network 100 can beany type of network that interconnects multiple computing devices. Forexample, network 100 can be the Internet, or a corporate wide areanetwork (LAN), or any other interconnection of devices.

Network server 110 operates to provide content to one or more devicesvia network 100. In one embodiment, network server 110 is coupled withInternet Protocol (IP) server 120 to provide IP traffic. In alternateembodiments, additional and/or different types of traffic can besupported. IP server 120 is coupled with firewall 130, which providesfirewall functionality on traffic between IP server 120 and networkcomponents behind firewall 130. In one embodiment, firewall 130 providestraffic control between the management layer and the computing layer, asdescribed in greater detail below.

In one embodiment, firewall 130 is coupled with switch 140 andmanagement switch 145. Switch 140 operates to route non-managementnetwork traffic from firewall 130 to and from operations/VM server 150.Operations/VM server 150 provides server functionality (e.g., HTTPserver, one or more virtual machines) to remote devices. The traffic forthis functionality is routed through switch 140. In the example of FIG.1, only one operations/VM server is illustrated; however, any number ofservers can be supported. In one embodiment, operations/VM server 150 isnot secure or trusted in that one or more applications can be notsecured or not trusted.

Management switch 145 is coupled with firewall 130 and management server160. Management switch 145 operates to route secure and/or managementtraffic to and from management server 160. In one embodiment, managementswitch 145 also routes secure and/or management traffic to and fromoperations/VM server 150. In one embodiment, firewall 130 controls theflow of secure and/or management traffic through management switch 145.In one embodiment, management server 160 provides a secure environmentfor operation of trusted applications/entities within computingenvironment 190. In one embodiment, computing environment 190 is amulti-tenant database environment or other on demand servicesenvironment.

In one embodiment, there are at least two virtual local area networks(VLANs) or at least two virtual private networks (VPNs) within computingenvironment 190. One VLAN/VPN is for traffic to and from firewall 130and operations/VM server 150 through switch 140. This VLAN/VPN is foruntrusted or non-secure traffic. The other VLAN/VPN is for traffic toand from firewall 130 and management server 160 and/or operations/VMserver 150 through management switch 145. This VLAN/VPN is for trustedor secure traffic. Thus, a virtual air gap is provided between the twoVLANs/VPNs. In one embodiment, firewall 130 controls traffic between thetwo VLANs/VPNs utilizing the conceptual mailbox discussed above.

In one embodiment, firewall 130 enforces rules to allow network trafficto flow from management server 160 to operations/VM server 150, but notin the reverse direction. This allows trusted/secure traffic to flow toan untrusted/non-secure entity, but prevents untrusted/non-securetraffic to flow to the trusted/secure entity. In one embodiment,operations/VM server 150 maintains management mailbox 155 for processingmanagement traffic.

In one embodiment, management server 160, running secure/trusted code,initiates transmission of a message to operations/VM server 150. Themessage can be, for example, a management/configuration message. Othertypes of messages can be sent in a similar manner. In one embodiment,management server 160 transmits a message to operations/VM server 150 bytransmitting a message that is routed by management switch 145 tofirewall 130 where traffic rules are applied and the message is sentback to management switch 145. The message is then sent to operations/VMserver 150 and received in mailbox 155.

Operations/VM server 150 accesses messages from mailbox 155 to performthe functions required by the messages. In one embodiment, if a responseis required, operations/VM server 150 places a response message inmailbox 155. Management server 160 can check mailbox 155 for responses(or requests) from operations/VM server 150. In one embodiment,management server 160 can check mailbox 155 by going through managementswitch 145 to mailbox 155. In an alternate embodiment, management server160 can check mailbox 155 by going through management switch 145 andfirewall 130 to mailbox 155.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a technique to provideunidirectional inter-host communications from a management layercomponent to a non-management layer component in a computingenvironment. As discussed above, a server on a management layer can sendmessages to a device on a different layer. In one embodiment, themanagement layer device generates a message to be transmitted to thenon-management layer device, 210. In one embodiment, code running on asecure/trusted management server generates a message to be transmittedto the non-management layer component. The message can be, for example,a configuration message, cryptographic information, etc.

The message is transmitted to the network firewall, 220. In oneembodiment, the message may pass through one or more management layercomponents, for example, one or more management switches. The firewallapplies network traffic policies/rules to the traffic including themessage, 230. In one embodiment, the firewall enforces unidirectionaltraffic flow from the management layer to non-management layers withinthe networked environment. Additional and/or different network trafficrules can also be applied by the firewall.

The message is sent to the target non-management layer component andreceived with a conceptual mailbox, 240. The message may pass throughone or more non-management layer component, for example, one or moreswitches. The mailbox operates to receive management messages and tostore the messages until they can be processed, 250, by the receivingcomponent. For example, a non-management layer server can receiveconfiguration information form a management layer component while beingprevented from sending non-trusted traffic back to the management layercomponent.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a technique to provideunidirectional inter-host communications from a non-management layercomponent to a management layer component in a computing environment. Asdiscussed above, a non-management component/entity can provideinformation to a management component/entity via a virtual mailbox inthe non-management layer.

In one embodiment, the management layer component generates a command tocheck a mailbox in a non-management layer component, 310. In oneembodiment, the management layer component runs trusted/secure code thatis authorized to check the mailbox. In one embodiment, after sending amessage to a non-management layer component (e.g., FIG. 2), themanagement layer component may follow up with checking the mailboxautomatically.

The management layer component transmits the message to the serverhaving the mailbox, 320. In one embodiment, the message passes throughone or more network entities (e.g., management switch, firewall, switch)in order to reach the mailbox. The mailbox is checked for a responsemessage, 330. In one embodiment, the server hosting the mailbox receivesa message from the management component and checks the mailbox forresponse information. The response information is transmitted back tothe requesting (e.g., management layer) server, 340.

In one embodiment, the trusted component (e.g., management server)initiates the connection and pulls the messages from the non-trusted(e.g., compute server, VM server). The firewall allows this connectionto be initialized from trusted component only and allows traffic back toallow the messages to be downloaded by the trusted component via theinitialized (established) connection. Thus, all traffic is under thecontrol and direction of the trusted/secure component.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 410 wherein anon-demand database service might be used. Components within environment410 may belong to different layers (e.g., compute, management) and maycommunicate as described above. Environment 410 may include user systems412, network 414, system 416, processor system 417, application platform418, network interface 420, tenant data storage 422, system data storage424, program code 426, and process space 428. In other embodiments,environment 410 may not have all of the components listed and/or mayhave other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

Environment 410 is an environment in which an on-demand database serviceexists. User system 412 may be any machine or system that is used by auser to access a database user system. For example, any of user systems412 can be a handheld computing device, a mobile phone, a laptopcomputer, a work station, and/or a network of computing devices. Asillustrated in herein FIG. 4 (and in more detail in FIG. 5) user systems412 might interact via a network 414 with an on-demand database service,which is system 416.

An on-demand database service, such as system 416, is a database systemthat is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarilybe concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, butinstead may be available for their use when the users need the databasesystem (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand databaseservices may store information from one or more tenants stored intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). Accordingly, “on-demand database service 416” and “system 416”will be used interchangeably herein.

A database image may include one or more database objects. A relationaldatabase management system (RDMS) or the equivalent may execute storageand retrieval of information against the database object(s). Applicationplatform 418 may be a framework that allows the applications of system416 to run, such as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operatingsystem. In an embodiment, on-demand database service 416 may include anapplication platform 418 that enables creation, managing and executingone or more applications developed by the provider of the on-demanddatabase service, users accessing the on-demand database service viauser systems 412, or third party application developers accessing theon-demand database service via user systems 412.

The users of user systems 412 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 412 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a salesperson is using a particular user system 412 tointeract with system 416, that user system has the capacities allottedto that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with system 416, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical rolemodel, users at one permission level may have access to applications,data, and database information accessible by a lower permission leveluser, but may not have access to certain applications, databaseinformation, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level.Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard toaccessing and modifying application and database information, dependingon a user's security or permission level.

Network 414 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 414 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. As the most common type of computer network in currentuse is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)network, such as the global internetwork of networks often referred toas the “Internet” with a capital “I,” that network will be used in manyof the examples herein. However, it should be understood that thenetworks that one or more implementations might use are not so limited,although TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.

User systems 412 might communicate with system 416 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 412 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from anHTTP server at system 416. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface between system 416 and network 414, but othertechniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations,the interface between system 416 and network 414 includes load sharingfunctionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balanceloads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality ofservers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, eachof the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data; however, otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In one embodiment, system 416, shown in FIG. 4, implements a web-basedcustomer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, in oneembodiment, system 416 includes application servers configured toimplement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and fromuser systems 412 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of onetenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that onetenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such datais expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 416 implementsapplications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. Forexample, system 416 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application. User(or third party developer) applications, which may or may not includeCRM, may be supported by the application platform 418, which managescreation, storage of the applications into one or more database objectsand executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the processspace of the system 416.

One arrangement for elements of system 416 is shown in FIG. 4, includinga network interface 420, application platform 418, tenant data storage422 for tenant data 423, system data storage 424 for system data 425accessible to system 416 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 426for implementing various functions of system 416, and a process space428 for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes,such as running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 416 include databaseindexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 4 include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 412 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 412 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 412 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 416 over network 414. Each usersystem 412 also typically includes one or more user interface devices,such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen orthe like, for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) providedby the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.)in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and other informationprovided by system 416 or other systems or servers. For example, theuser interface device can be used to access data and applications hostedby system 416, and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwiseallow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented toa user. As discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with theInternet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of networks.However, it should be understood that other networks can be used insteadof the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one embodiment, each user system 412 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 416(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of their components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using a central processingunit such as processor system 417, which may include an Intel Pentium®processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units.

A computer program product embodiment includes a machine-readablestorage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which canbe used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of theembodiments described herein. Computer code for operating andconfiguring system 416 to intercommunicate and to process webpages,applications and other data and media content as described herein arepreferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire programcode, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile ornon-volatile memory medium or device as is well known, such as a ROM orRAM, or provided on any media capable of storing program code, such asany type of rotating media including floppy disks, optical discs,digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, andmagneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems(including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media or devicesuitable for storing instructions and/or data. Additionally, the entireprogram code, or portions thereof, may be transmitted and downloadedfrom a software source over a transmission medium, e.g., over theInternet, or from another server, as is well known, or transmitted overany other conventional network connection as is well known (e.g.,extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols(e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It willalso be appreciated that computer code for implementing embodiments canbe implemented in any programming language that can be executed on aclient system and/or server or server system such as, for example, C,C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, anyother scripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programminglanguages as are well known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of SunMicrosystems, Inc.).

According to one embodiment, each system 416 is configured to providewebpages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client)systems 412 to support the access by user systems 412 as tenants ofsystem 416. As such, system 416 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant toinclude a computer system, including processing hardware and processspace(s), and an associated storage system and database application(e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also beunderstood that “server system” and “server” are often usedinterchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described hereincan be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 5 also illustrates environment 410. However, in FIG. 5 elements ofsystem 416 and various interconnections in an embodiment are furtherillustrated. FIG. 5 shows that user system 412 may include processorsystem 412A, memory system 412B, input system 412C, and output system412D. FIG. 5 shows network 414 and system 416. FIG. 5 also shows thatsystem 416 may include tenant data storage 422, tenant data 423, systemdata storage 424, system data 425, User Interface (UI) 530, ApplicationProgram Interface (API) 532, PL/SOQL 534, save routines 536, applicationsetup mechanism 538, applications servers 500 ₁-500 _(N), system processspace 502, tenant process spaces 504, tenant management process space510, tenant storage space 512, tenant data 514, and application metadata516. In other embodiments, environment 410 may not have the sameelements as those listed above and/or may have other elements insteadof, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 412, network 414, system 416, tenant data storage 422, andsystem data storage 424 were discussed above in FIG. 4. Regarding usersystem 412, processor system 412A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 412B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 412Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 412D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 5, system 416 may include a network interface 420 (of FIG. 4)implemented as a set of HTTP application servers 500, an applicationplatform 418, tenant data storage 422, and system data storage 424.

Also shown is system process space 502, including individual tenantprocess spaces 504 and a tenant management process space 510. Eachapplication server 500 may be configured to tenant data storage 422 andthe tenant data 423 therein, and system data storage 424 and the systemdata 425 therein to serve requests of user systems 412. The tenant data423 might be divided into individual tenant storage spaces 512, whichcan be either a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement ofdata. Within each tenant storage space 512, tenant data 514 andapplication metadata 516 might be similarly allocated for each user. Forexample, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU) items might bestored to tenant data 514. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entireorganization that is a tenant might be stored to tenant storage space512. A UI 530 provides a user interface and an API 532 provides anapplication programmer interface to system 416 resident processes tousers and/or developers at user systems 412. The tenant data and thesystem data may be stored in various databases, such as one or moreOracle™ databases.

Application platform 418 includes an application setup mechanism 538that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage422 by save routines 536 for execution by subscribers as one or moretenant process spaces 504 managed by tenant management process 510 forexample. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 534that provides a programming language style interface extension to API532. A detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments isdiscussed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478 entitled, “Methodand System for Allowing Access to Developed Applicants via aMulti-Tenant Database On-Demand Database Service”, issued Jun. 1, 2010to Craig Weissman, which is incorporated in its entirety herein for allpurposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or moresystem processes, which manage retrieving application metadata 516 forthe subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a virtual machine.

Each application server 500 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 425 and tenant data 423, viaa different network connection. For example, one application server 500₁ might be coupled via the network 414 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 500 _(N-1) might be coupled via a direct networklink, and another application server 500 _(N) might be coupled by yet adifferent network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating betweenapplication servers 500 and the database system. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may beused to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used.

In certain embodiments, each application server 500 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 500. In one embodiment, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 500 and the user systems 412 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 500. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 500. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user couldhit three different application servers 500, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same application server 500. In thismanner, system 416 is multi-tenant, wherein system 416 handles storageof, and access to, different objects, data and applications acrossdisparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 416 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 422). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 416 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant specific data, system 416 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain embodiments, user systems 412 (which may be client systems)communicate with application servers 500 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 416 that may requiresending one or more queries to tenant data storage 422 and/or systemdata storage 424. System 416 (e.g., an application server 500 in system416) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one ormore SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information.System data storage 424 may generate query plans to access the requesteddata from the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects. It should be understood that “table” and “object” may be usedinterchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more datacategories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema.Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for eachcategory defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may includea table that describes a customer with fields for basic contactinformation such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields forinformation such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In somemulti-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be providedfor use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standardentities might include tables for Account, Contact, Lead, andOpportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should beunderstood that the word “entity” may also be used interchangeablyherein with “object” and “table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004, entitled “Custom Entities and Fields ina Multi-Tenant Database System”, and which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference, teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects aswell as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system.In certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows arestored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may containmultiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to customersthat their multiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table orthat their data may be stored in the same table as the data of othercustomers.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment.

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is notlimited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced withmodification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative insteadof limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: maintaining a virtualmailbox on a non-trusted network entity executing non-trusted code, on afirst network layer, wherein the virtual mailbox is configurable tostore messages to be passed between the first network layer and a secondnetwork layer, wherein network entities on the second network layerexecute only trusted code; receiving a request message at the virtualmailbox from a trusted network entity on the second network layer to anon-trusted network entity on the first network layer through a flow oftraffic from the second network layer to the first network layer thatinvolves only connections initialized from the first network layer tothe second network layer, wherein messages to be downloaded by thetrusted network entity are through a connection initialized by acomponent of the second network layer; performing one or more operationsin the first network layer in response to the request message;generating results in the first network layer in response to the requestmessage; storing the results in the virtual mailbox; receiving, fromauthorized trusted code executed on the second network layer, a responsecheck message from the management network entity, the response checkmessage to determine whether the results are available in the virtualmailbox in response to the request message.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the trusted network entity comprises a management server.
 3. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the non-trusted network entity comprises acompute layer server.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the trustednetwork entity is part of a first virtual private network (VPN), thenon-trusted network entity is part of a second VPN, and the firewall isconfigured to communicate with both the first VPN and the second VPN. 5.The method of claim 1 wherein the trusted network entity is part of afirst virtual local area network (VLAN), the non-trusted network entityis part of a second VLAN, and the firewall is configured to communicatewith both the first VLAN and the second VLAN.
 6. The method of claim 1wherein the trusted network entity is a management server within an ondemand services environment and the non-trusted network entity is acontent server within the on demand services environment.
 7. The methodof claim 6 wherein the on demand services environment comprises amulti-tenant database environment.
 8. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one ormore processors, is configurable to cause the one or more processors to:maintain a virtual mailbox on a non-trusted network entity executingnon-trusted code, on a first network layer, wherein the virtual mailboxis configurable to store messages to be passed between the first networklayer and a second network layer, wherein network entities on the secondnetwork layer execute only trusted code; receive a request message atthe virtual mailbox from a trusted network entity on the second networklayer to a non-trusted network entity on the first network layer througha flow of traffic from the second network layer to the first networklayer that involves only connections initialized from the first networklayer to the second network layer, wherein messages to be downloaded bythe trusted network entity are through a connection initialized by acomponent of the second network layer; perform one or more operations inthe first network layer in response to the request message; generateresults in the first network layer in response to the request message;store the results in the virtual mailbox; receive, from authorizedtrusted code executed on the second network layer, a response checkmessage from the management network entity, the response check messageto determine whether the results are available in the virtual mailbox inresponse to the request message.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8 wherein the trusted network entity comprises amanagement server.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 9 wherein the non-trusted network entity comprises a compute layerserver.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8wherein the trusted network entity is part of a first virtual privatenetwork (VPN), the non-trusted network entity is part of a second VPN,and the firewall is configured to communicate with both the first VPNand the second VPN.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 8 wherein the trusted network entity is part of a first virtuallocal area network (VLAN), the non-trusted network entity is part of asecond VLAN, and the firewall is configured to communicate with both thefirst VLAN and the second VLAN.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8 wherein the trusted network entity is a managementserver within an on demand services environment and the non-trustednetwork entity is a content server within the on demand servicesenvironment.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13wherein the on demand services environment comprises a multi-tenantdatabase environment.
 15. A system comprising: at least one memorysystem having hardware memory devices; one or more hardware processorscoupled with the at least one memory system, the one or more processorsto execute instructions stored within the system to maintain a virtualmailbox on a non-trusted network entity executing non-trusted code, on afirst network layer, wherein the virtual mailbox is configurable tostore messages to be passed between the first network layer and a secondnetwork layer, wherein network entities on the second network layerexecute only trusted code, to receive a request message at the virtualmailbox from a trusted network entity on the second network layer to anon-trusted network entity on the first network layer through a flow oftraffic from the second network layer to the first network layer thatinvolves only connections initialized from the first network layer tothe second network layer, wherein messages to be downloaded by thetrusted network entity are through a connection initialized by acomponent of the second network layer, to perform one or more operationsin the first network layer in response to the request message, togenerate results in the first network layer in response to the requestmessage, to store the results in the virtual mailbox, to receive, fromauthorized trusted code executed on the second network layer, a responsecheck message from the management network entity, the response checkmessage to determine whether the results are available in the virtualmailbox in response to the request message.
 16. The system of claim 15wherein the trusted network entity comprises a management server. 17.The system of claim 16 wherein the non-trusted network entity comprisesa compute layer server.
 18. The system of claim 15 wherein the trustednetwork entity is part of a first virtual private network (VPN), thenon-trusted network entity is part of a second VPN, and the firewall isconfigured to communicate with both the first VPN and the second VPN.19. The system of claim 15 wherein the trusted network entity is part ofa first virtual local area network (VLAN), the non-trusted networkentity is part of a second VLAN, and the firewall is configured tocommunicate with both the first VLAN and the second VLAN.
 20. The systemof claim 15 wherein the trusted network entity is a management serverwithin an on demand services environment and the non-trusted networkentity is a content server within the on demand services environment.21. The system of claim 20 wherein the on demand services environmentcomprises a multi-tenant database environment.